It took me a while to get adjusted to Ross’ announcement of joining Canterlot High. It took me even longer to be able to get up. Most of that was due to going into Type Overdrive twice in one day. From how I could feel myself, I knew that it was a case of my nervous system having an overload thanks to fusing it with Banno’s neural network.
I figured I’d get used to it in time, though that would depend greatly on me being able to become cruel. I took the time to read the newspaper. As I had figured, the news of Gold Drive’s attack on the streets made the headlines, but to my surprise, they also mentioned his stopping of a large tornado from destroying the city.
I read more into it. Seemed that the newspaper was painting me as a sort of “Hero or Menace” sort of deal. One article praised Gold Drive stopping a group of bank robbers from harming civilians while another said that he caused injuries from occurring. It brought me a bit of comfort, however, that I have people who supported me and considered me their hero.
I got up from the hospital bed and got ready to go back to teaching. That’s when I saw Ross standing outside the room in his school uniform. He gave me a salute and I nodded.
We drove off to someplace where we could carry out a private conversation. The docks was a good idea, I thought. I parked the Tridoron nearby and walked to the edge of the pier along with Ross.
“So, your Roidmude days are over?” I asked. Ross stretched his arms.
“I guess so. Though, I wanna assume the Roidmude days in general are over.” Ross said. I frowned and sat down.
“I wish it was that simple.” I said. I looked at the ocean. “There’s a hundred and eight Roidmudes.” Ross sat next to me.
“W-what!? That many?” Ross said. I nodded.
“Yeah. But we cleared up a quarter of them. Another quarter was wiped out in a civil war. If I’m correct, that basically means we’re only half way done.” I said. I looked at Ross as he looked down at the ocean.
“Well, at least your monsters have a limit… The Grimm? So long as humanity exists, so will they.” He said.
“That… brings up a good topic, however. The past couple of days, there have been Roidmudes that have seemingly been fusing with the Grimm.” I said.
“Fusing?” Ross asked.
“Yeah. Like, a Roidmude will be stuck to the body of those things. You know what that’s all about?” I asked.
“If I may pipe in…” Banno spoke up. “According to the combat data, these Grimm seem animalistic in nature. It’s like they seek out these Roidmudes to devour and absorb them for some reason.” I paused and added to Banno’s theory.
“Perhaps the Grimm aren’t the ones doing the absorbing… Ross, can you confirm Banno’s suspicions?” I asked him. Ross nodded.
“Yeah. Grimm are pretty instinct-based. They actively hunt down humans and anything of their creations.” Ross said. Already, a point in favor of the theory. “They’re able to track a human by seeking out stuff like hate, rage, sadness, despa-” I clapped my hands.
“Stop! There we go! They like negative emotions! Banno, I think we found our answer.” I said. Banno chuckled.
“Yes… We have…” Banno said.
“I don’t follow.” Ross said.
“Banno programed the Roidmudes to evolve based off emotions and rarely are they good ones. Humiliation, Envy, Vengeance… The Roidmudes would synchronize with the negative emotion they were given, either through programming or whatever they got from the host, and then emulate it until they evolve.” I said.
“Since they can only emulate what they were programed to feel, these Grimm are attracted to them like a moth to a flame.” Banno said.
“Then, when the Grimm are attacking, the Roidmudes would synchronize with the negative emotions that these Grimm are seeking and thus…” I said.
“We get those monsters.” Ross said.
“Exactly.” Banno said. Ross picked up a pebble and tossed it across the ocean.
“… I caused these Grimm to appear.” Ross said. At first I had no idea what he meant, but then I remembered what was said yesterday:
“Each Displaced faces foes from the game, TV show or movie in their own Equestrias.” I merely looked to the ripples he made. I shook my head.
“No. There’s more to it than that. If that was the case, then those Roidmudes would have come when I came. It’s not a coincidence, yes, but you’re not responsible for them to appear. They came on their own volition.” I said.
“What do you mean?” Ross asked.
“… There’s much despair in this town since the Roidmudes attacked. Maybe they found this place to be a good haven for food.” I said. I got up and looked to Ross. “So, shall we get going? If we hurry, we’ll make it just in time for science class.”
Oh, if things were that simple.
BLAST!
A warehouse nearby suddenly caught on fire as a police officer was flung out of it. We ran to him, only to see two Roidmudes hop out of the fires. These were different. The Roidmudes in their low-class forms followed three animal motifs: cobra, spider, or bat. These were different. Their faces were hidden in brown cages and they wore a red, thick cape, almost like the shell of a…
“Cockroach…” I muttered. The scythes they held were confirmation that they are what I thought they are.
“Great! These assholes are stealing my thing!” Ross took out his scythe. I shook my head.
“No… These guys are the Reaper Legion. They have nothing to do with you.” This was a bold faced lie. The presence of these Roidmudes does have something to do with Ross. Though it wasn’t that they modeled themselves after him. Rather, they were made to replace him, much like how they were originally made to replace Chase.
Which could only mean that much like before, a higher up Roidmude could be leading them…
“Banno… You thinking who I’m thinking?” I asked.
“Only one way to find out… Start my engine.” Banno said. I crossed my arms before I pressed them against my wrists, turning them around before pulling one arm back and pushing another one forward. I then pushed my right arm forward, left hand lowered to the ignition as I shouted.
“Henshin!” I shouted as I turned it. I’d squee at the fact that I finally pulled off my first Henshin pose, but Banno immediately took over my body, Steering Sword in hand, and ran off to fight the Roidmudes.
Ross already beat me to them as his scythe cut through the scythe of one of the Roidmudes. He fired with the barrel part of the scythe right into the Reaper’s face, breaking his mask as Ross impaled the pointy end of the scythe into the side of its neck. Ross leaped and did a drop kick on the Roidmude, pulling him away from the scythe as sparks began to pour from the stab wound.
Banno slashed away at the Reaper Roidmude before he threw a Rider Punch right into the chest of the Roidmude. It knocked him away. The Roidmude growled as it threw down its cape. Banno turned on the ignition as I took over. Banno’s activation of Gold Conversion caused the Tridoron to roll towards me. I opened the door and took out both the Chainsword and the Assault Rifle. Tossing the rifle to Ross, I took the Chainsword in my hand.
“W-What!? No! I wanted you to run them down with the Tridoron!” Banno shouted as I ran forward and gave the Roidmude a cross slash, greatly damaging the Roidmude’s torso.
Ross transformed the scythe into a sniper rifle and constantly fired at his opponent with the assault rifle. As soon as the Roidmude took twenty five hits, he headshotted the Reaper Roidmude, causing the Roidmude to fall into the water and break up into rose petals.
I turned the ignition and placed my two swords together.
“THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE!” Banno shouted as he spun around. Golden electricity built up around him as he spun towards the capeless Roidmude, slashing him apart until he was in tiny pieces. With the two swords, he then proceed to cut the Core with the chain sword and then fire a sharp sword slash at the other Core. 044 and 094 both blew up. Ross ran towards the wounded officer as Banno proceeded to the fires inside the warehouse.
“Hey! Wait! This guy’s hurt!” Banno didn’t care and merely tried to get into the flames. However, the fires overwhelmed his vision and he backed away, cancelling out the transformation in the process.
“There’s no way Medic would be in that building…” Banno said to me as I stood by the fire. Though, if I remembered correctly, there’d be no way Medic would be leading these Reapers. Especially after a civil war where Heart’s side lost… So who could it have been?
The Grim Reaper stood in the flames. Banno was easily in front of her. She could easily kill the professor, his puppet, and even the traitor in one… swift… kill.
However, as she moved in, she could see the traitor tending to her mark. She froze. Despite only hearing stories of him, she felt as though she knew him before. She held her head as one voice rang into her head.
“I love you…”
She shook her head. She continued to look at the three as they remained ignorant of her presence. The Roidmude King was right, she thought. Now was not the perfect time to fight them. She walked away, having accomplished her initial goal.
“Hey! Hang in there!” Ross said to the police officer. However, that’s when I noticed he looked familiar.
“Ross… Hang on…” I said. I knew him. This was Michelangelo Jones, otherwise known as the Sculpt Roidmude. I recalled him getting away from my last clash with him. Michelangelo simply sputtered.
“She’s coming…” He weakly said. He looked to Ross. “The Dragon… She’s coming… To kill… The Reaper… And the Rider…” Michelangelo said before his body gave out. I shoved Ross out of the way before the officer exploded, his core, 084, floating up before it too was destroyed in an explosion. The two of us just sat on the ground as the smoke cleared.
Firetrucks began to pile in as I helped Ross up. I looked to the ground as I saw Fire Braver rolling out to help stop the fires in the warehouse from spreading. We went into the Tridoron as I dismantled the Rose Attacker back into its lock mode and we drove off.
About five minutes into the drive, Ross began to speak and break the silence me and him shared.
“… What the hell… Did… Did those Roidmudes murder their own kind?” Ross asked.
“Yeah. That’s what happens when they need to replace the Grim Reaper.” I said. Ross looked at the dash of the car and frowned.
“That guy… Tachibana reset him to have him help out his department as a cop. Guess the Roidmudes found out and…” Ross sighed.
“Ross… This is a war. Like it or not, it’s a war to determine who’ll rule the world. Humanity or Roidmudes. Of course there’ll be those who want a middle ground and those who will make sure those voices get silenced.” I said.
“And then there’s what he said! The Dragon? Do you know any dragon Roidmudes?!” Ross asked. I shook my head.
“Roidmudes, in their evolved forms, don’t go for animals. Some go for organs, elements, even occupations. Never animals.” I said.
“If that… If the dragon can easily kill that Roidmude… then… They might…” I stopped the car and patted Ross on the shoulder.
“Alright, this will be the first homework assignment I’ll give you as your teacher, understand?” I asked. Ross nodded. “You are going to take a week off from this hunting crap and you just relax. Got it? Extra credit is that you make a friend in this world.” I said. Ross hesitated for a while before nodding.
“Okay… But if that Dragon comes…” Ross muttered.
“I’ll deal with it. Don’t worry.” I said. Ross had a faint smile. That’s when I realized something.
“Hey, Ross, you got a place to stay?” I asked. Ross shook his head.
“Well, I’m able to go home, but I need my token…” Ross said. The word struck some familiarity.
“A token… Yeah, you know where it is?” I asked him.
“… Inside Nerve’s building.” Ross got out of the car and smiled to me. “Don’t worry, I’ll be able to grab it, no problem.” With that, Ross flew off.
“H-hey! Come back here! You still have to go to school!” I shouted to him. I groaned and drove off as soon as I knew Ross wouldn’t listen.
I went back to CHS and walked into the halls. There, I bumped into someone.
“Oof!” As I fell to the ground, I heard some clattering on the ground. When I got up, I saw Fluttershy was the one I bumped into.
“O-oh… Sorry…” Fluttershy went over to pick up something… A crown. The crown had a magenta jewel embedded in the top modelled after a star, with what appeared to be sapphires lined up on the rim of the crown made of solid gold.
“What… is that?” I asked.
“I-it’s the crown for the Fall Formal. Every year we have a Fall Formal… And this crown goes to the Princess.” Fluttershy said.
“So… Prom, basically.” I said. Fluttershy nodded. I stared at the crown. Usually, for high schools and prom, they would just cheap out and buy a plastic crown. Here? This crown looked as though it was stolen from a kingdom far away.
“I found it on the ground near the statue, I was going to return it to Principal Celestia.” Fluttershy said.
“Well, I can give it to her for you. I mean, you have to get to class, right?” I asked. Fluttershy nodded.
“O-okay…” She handed me the crown. She then paused for a moment before wiping away a tear and muttered out a thanks before rushing off. I sighed, then looked at the crown.
I went into the staff’s bathroom as I turned the ignition twice. As much as I enjoyed using Banno plus Shift Technic to constantly scan for stuff, I felt as though I was seeing Banno as a mundane utility rather than as…
I shuddered as I thought of him as anything more than a partner.
I transformed into Gold Drive with the Shift Technic car plugged into the Shift Brace. I scanned the crown.
“Bingo.” I said as I saw an aura form around the crown. It wasn’t like Ross’ Aura, however. Rather than it looking like a fire, it was instead rounded and flowed almost like water. There was a magenta hue surrounding the crown. However, the bubble that surrounded the crown soon began to go up in flames. “The hell!?” Now it became the shape of Ross’ Aura, an orange flame, though instead of a red flame.
I muttered. That’s when I heard the door open. I cancelled my transformation and turned around. “Principal Celestia!” I said.
“Ah, Professor, you found the crown! Perfect! I thought we’d have to cancel the Fall Formal without it.” Celestia approached me.
“Celestia, this crown isn’t meant to be a decoration.” I told her. She shook her head.
“Of course it isn’t. It symbolizes how thankful we are for the friends and family we have.” She said.
“No, I mean that this crown has crazy magic coming from it. Something obviously isn’t right. Allow me to analyze and study this so that we know for sure what exactly it is.” I said.
“That won’t be necessary.” Celestia went over and grabbed the crown from me. “This has been Canterlot High tradition for fifteen years, and in those fifteen years, I have not once had a mishap with this crown.” She held the expensive treasure by dangling it by one of the ends like a cheap dollar store toy. “You don’t have to worry about it…” She said as she left the room. I gritted my teeth.
How could that idiot steal a powerful artifact from right under my nose? That thing could be a freaking nuke and she just views it as some goddamned beauty queen accessory! I began to seethe so much anger that I began to remember something.
It was another one of Ryoma’s memories. This time, he was visiting a bed ridden Takatora. Instantly, I knew this memory. As it played out, I began to figure out why this memory was triggered, especially after Takatora brushed off Ryoma’s desires to achieve godhood. After that, Ryoma began to go behind Takatora’s back. I realized just what I was now thinking.
I was considering betraying Celestia.
Ross entered the office of the former Nerve Roidmude and looked around.
“Has to be here somewhere…” He muttered. He went over to the desk and pulled out one of the drawers. “Perfect!” Ross took out the silver necklace and held onto it.
“This kindly I…” But he stopped. He looked at the silver necklace and thought back to his time with Tachibana.
“I didn’t really know him enough to call him a friend. I don’t really have a lot of friends. I don’t have anyone to rely on.”
Remembering the words he said to Rainbow Dash, Ross instead placed the necklace over his neck and headed off.
KNOCK KNOCK
Ross had his fingernails dig into his palms as the door opened.
“Oh! There you are! You gave me quite a scare.” Ross had to acknowledge that, while she did look like Cinder Fall, there’s a good chance she isn’t actually her.
“Hey… Erm… Is your daughter here?” Ross asked her.
“As a matter of fact… Sunset!” She called for her. As Sunset approached Ross, time seemed to slow down for him. She was exactly like the angel he saw when he was on the streets. Ross smiled.
“So, you must be the person who saved me…” Ross said to her. Sunset rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, I guess.” She said. Ross then grabbed her hand, much to her surprise.
“Thank you. You don’t know how much it meant to me…” Ross frowned for a bit, but then he smiled. He knelt before her. “I am in your debt.” Ross was determined to make a friend. Sunset just smirked.
She just found herself a new pawn.